Bibliograph

End of the megafauna, the fate of the world's hugest, fiercest, and strangest animals, Ross D.E. MacPhee ; with illustrations by Peter Schouten

Type

Label

End of the megafauna, the fate of the world's hugest, fiercest, and strangest animals, Ross D.E. MacPhee ; with illustrations by Peter Schouten

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-223) and index

Illustrations

illustrationsmaps

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

End of the megafauna

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1043348097

Responsibility statement

Ross D.E. MacPhee ; with illustrations by Peter Schouten

Sub title

the fate of the world's hugest, fiercest, and strangest animals

Summary

"The fascinating lives and puzzling demise of some of the largest animals on earth. Until a few thousand years ago, creatures that could have been from a sci-fi thriller--including gorilla-sized lemurs, 800-pound birds, crocodiles that weighed a ton or more--roamed the earth. These great beasts, or "megafauna," lived on every habitable continent and on many islands. With a handful of exceptions, all are now gone. What caused the disappearance of these prehistoric behemoths? No one event can be pinpointed as a specific cause, but several factors may have played a role. Paleomammologist Ross D.E. MacPhee explores them all, examining the leading extinction theories, weighing the evidence, and presenting his own conclusions. He shows how theories of human overhunting and catastrophic climate change fail to account for critical features of these extinctions, and how new thinking is needed to elucidate these mysterious losses. Along the way, we learn how time is determined in earth history; how DNA is used to explain the genomics and phylogenetic history of megafauna--and how synthetic biology and genetic engineering may be able to reintroduce these giants of the past. Until then, gorgeous four-color illustrations by Peter Schouten re-create these megabeasts here in vivid detail."--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Preface : Lost in near time -- Big -- "This sudden dying out" -- The world before us -- The hominin diaspora -- Explaining near time extinctions : first attempts -- Paul Martin and the planet of doom : overkill ascendant -- Action and reaction -- Overkill now -- Where are the bodies, and other objections to overkill -- More objections : betrayal from within? -- Other ideas : the search continues -- Extinction matters -- Epilogue : Can the megafauna live again? -- Appendix : Dating near time

Classification